THINK!! before removing your factory A/C!

cadillackid

Bus Geek

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Join Date: May

Location: Columbus Ohio

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Coachwork: Carpenter

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Engine: DTA360 / MT643

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THINK!! before removing your factory A/C!

OK.. so the heat wave this week and last has brought about quite a few messages to my inboxes on various social media platforms, sites, and my own ... "HELP! I took out my air conditioning to convert and now im sick on the highway...".. or "what can I do to get my A/C back? I gave away the parts...."...



and a couple other variations..





I get it.. you want to maximize your space and have an aesthetically pleasing conversion.. so the first thing you do is pull out those ugly damn things on the ceiling.. and take out those underbody condensors.. and plop a camper A/C on the roof and that will keep everything cool right? after all you are going to spray foam and do the floors and tint the windows...



YES! to some extenmt you are right.. all of this will help that mini split or camper A/C or 2 keep you cool.. .. when you arent creating a 70 MPH windstorm on a 100 degree freeway with gosh knows how many BTU of solar heat blasting in the front windshields as you roll along... just like you find out pretty quickly in cold weather every single air crack in your bus... heat is no different.. and you are essentially putting your bus into a windstorm everytime you drive it.. not to mention if you are front engine there is engine heat... and lots of it...



a conventional school bus from the factory will have 120,000 - 140,000 BTU of air conditioning... and even at that it will take quite a while to make your bus cool inside.. thats right 10-12 TONS.. enough A/C to cool a 40 employee office..


insulating and fixing up cracks and such will make things MUCH better.. but still you arent likel;y gonna be comfy in a heat wave like this with your genny running the minisplit...



one suggestion is that you incorporate your inside units into your build... I was at a bus rally last weekend and a fellow forum member has built his cabinets for his plumbing systems and pumps.. and his electrical systems and panels below those units.. so they are no longer head bangers or are they going to be ugly... they are integrated into necessary components of his build..



second suggestion is remove one system but keep the other.. most busses do have 2 compressors, condensors and 2 or 3 evaporators.. so keep one system mounted near the front where you and your family ride.. that can give you 60,000 BTU of A/C for driving... if you are willing to part with a little coin you can even buy evaporators that mount inside that useless space above your windshield where the school lights used to be...





I talked to one sad soul who bought a beautiful bus in an auction in arizona with 2 A/C's that kept him very comfortable driving in 115 degree heat last year.. only to pull them out.. hacked up all the wires and hoses and threw away the plastic covers for the evaporators and the screens for the condensors... drove his bus on its first camping trip this week.. with his minisplit on .. ended up with heat exhaustion and cut his trip off and came home before ever making it halfway to his first destination.... now he wants his A/C back... its over $3k in PARTS alone to restore those systems from Trans/AIR... the controls... the many feet of hose, all the fittings, wiring harnesses... those plastic evaporator covers? not cheap... and they are the drain pans for the condensate so they are pretty necessary.... Not to mention the labor involved in putting them back together...



LUCKILY he left the compressors and brackets on the engine.. the bracket set for a DT-466E for dual compressors is about $ new from bracketry systems...





im not saying dont take out the A/C.. but im saying THINK befiore you do... and if you want A/C in your bus for driving, then hold out for an auction with air-conditioned busses anbd buy one so-equipped.. bus A/C is expensive to add unless you find someone from category A above thats tossing them in the trash...



DRIVE YOUR BUS IN THE HEAT!!! with said factory A/C turned off.. and I mean really drive it... 2-3 hours in the interstate traffic with a few windows open heading into the summer sun.... then go back home and sleep on whether you deal with a little lost space over and under or wish to sweat... make an educated decision..


obviously there are those who plan to chase the 75 degree weather year round ... or live way up in the mountains and travel mainly there which have no use for driving A/C... or your rig is 99% stationary... or just a weekend warrior to the lake and back.. .


but alot of what i read is "we are going to travel the country... " or "spend our summers on the road all over the place".... etc etc...





-Christopher